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Hundreds of patients were left waiting in ambulances outside Leicester Royal Infirmary over Christmas and New Year as medics struggled to cope with a spike in admissions.

Nearly 1,200 patients were taken to the LRI by ambulance between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve but NHS figures show 360 of them - 30 per cent - were kept in their ambulances outside the hospital for more than 30 minutes.

Of those, 178 patients had to endure a wait of over an hour.

As reported by the Mercury, the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL), which managed the LRI, Glenfield and Leicester General Hospitals, has cancelled hundreds of non-urgent operations over Christmas to help it cope with pressure caused by increased numbers of unwell people.

Leicester South MP and shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said the Government had failed to prepare and equip the NHS for the winter patient numbers.

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He said: “These figures reveal the shocking scale of the crisis in our NHS this winter.

“Over 75,000 patients nationally have been left languishing in the back of ambulances this winter, something the Government should be deeply ashamed of.

“Labour and clinicians have warned ministers for months to prepare for this winter, but concerns were casually dismissed out of hand.

“Theresa May’s boast that the NHS is the best prepared it’s ever been has now been entirely discredited.

“The truth is we are now approaching the eighth year of desperate underfunding and cuts to our health and social care services by the Tories. We've seen thousands of beds cut from the NHS and the numbers of days lost to delayed discharge are up by 50 per cent since 2010.

“The NHS is being pushed to the brink under Theresa May and it is patients suffering as a consequence.”

More from Leicester's hospitals

The Prime Minister has apologised for delays to operations and hospital admissions.

She said: "I know it's difficult, I know it's frustrating, I know it's disappointing for people, and I apologise.

"I recognise that it's difficult for people who are facing delays.

“I recognise that it's difficult if somebody is delayed on their admission to hospital or if somebody has an operation postponed and we will hope to ensure that those operations can be reinstated as soon as possible."

She thanked doctors and nurses for their efforts in recent days.

Ambulances outside the LRI

Chief Executive at Leicester’s Hospitals John Adler said: "Like every hospital across the country we have been very busy through the Christmas and New Year period.

"We have seen many very sick people, predominantly frail older patients and people with respiratory problems.

"Many have needed to be admitted to one of our hospitals. I would like to apologise to anyone who has had to wait longer than normal for treatment in our Emergency Department.

“During 2017 we made huge improvements in our ambulance handover times and we will continue to work with our partners at EMAS to carry that good work into 2018.”

Leicester's hospitals had been running at Operational Pressures Escalation Level 4 (Opel4), which means it is at the highest level of pressure and indicates there is “increased potential” for patient safety to be at risk.

From yesterday however that has been reduced to Opel3 - a lesser level.